For those who don't know The Old Grey Whistle Test was an iconic BBC show, and has left an extraordinary archive of artists who would never have been given airtime on mainstream television, many of whom went on to superstardom.
Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Tim Buckley and the New York Dolls are just some of the artists who appeared when otherwise we would not have had a chance to see them at their peak, and often even before. It was on the Whistle Test that the Dolls were controversially labelled "mock rock" by the presenter, Whispering Bob Harris, to the chagrin, I'm sure, of a young Morrissey.
Famously John Lennon chose the Whistle Test to promote his Rock & Roll album in 1975. The BBC agreed to send a film crew over to New York, and they drew up a contract at the standard appearance fee of £15. Lennon, of course, thought this hilarious, and told them he didn't want any payment.
Being the Beeb, which is essentially a branch of the civil service, that isn't allowed, so Lennon instead asked to be paid not in money, but in Bath Olivers, which were unavailable in NY at the time. Somewhere in the BBC archives there is a contract in which the BBC agree to pay Lennon in £15 worth of biscuits.
The OGWT had no budget to speak of, so it was shot on an unadorned soundstage, just the band and a few cameras. It was public service broadcasting of the highest order, and exactly the sort of show the BBC was created for.
